Fresh Air, With a Side of Trouble
by Yuri-san
Summary: After being in the air for too long, Serenity's crew is more than willing to answer a distress call if it means getting to leave the ship for a while. Involves a mysterious illness, an injured doctor, and a quest for meds. Jaylee if you squint. Pre BDM.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Fresh Air, With a Side of Trouble

Title: Fresh Air, With a Side of Trouble

Chapter: 1 of 2

Author: Yuri-san

Rating: T, I guess. Because of the violence. . . ?

Summary: After being in the air for too long, Serenity's crew is more than willing to answer a distress call if it means getting to leave the ship for a while. Involves a mysterious illness, an injured doctor, and a quest for meds. Pre BDM.

Pairing(s): Jaylee if you squint.

Notes: Inara is away and Sheppard Book is. . . also away. Convenient, I know.

* * *

The majority of the crew had been cooped up on board Serenity for just over three weeks (the last few jobs had been dangerous Mal and Zoe only type deals) and were getting mighty anxious to be outside again. So when a distress call came in from a nearby planet, everyone jumped at the chance to be involved.

"Zoe and Jayne and me will be going," Mall announced. "As well as Simon, beings that this is likely a doctorly type visit."

"I'm coming," River said, as if it were a fact, not a suggestion.

"Me too," Kaylee added, less certainly.

Mal hesitated. "River, you can come."

"What about me Capt'n?" Kaylee asked.

Mal looked at her sternly. "What if my ship gets broke and my mechanic isn't there to fix it?"

"Mighty hard to break a ship what's landed already," Kaylee pointed out. "It's not that at all is it? You think I'll just get in the way, or get hurt. I'll be good, I swear! I've been all locked up inside for too long Cap'n. . ."

"I believe she should be safe with us, shouldn't she Captain?" Simon interjected, looking very pointedly at the weapons strapped to Mal, Zoe, and Jayne.

Mal sighed. "I suppose. Now, this planet is lusher than most, meaning Wash will get us as close as he can, but we're going to be walking a good long ways. Anyone who isn't up for that better say as much now cause I won't be standing for any whining later." When no one spoke up, Mal turned to Wash. "You'll be staying with the ship, of course."

"Of course," the pilot agreed good-naturedly, and then added, "We're almost there."

"Good Mal said, having so speak louder than normal to be heard over Kaylee and River's excited chattering. "Will you two quiet it down?!" The girls seemed to ignore him, but moved out of the room.

* * *

Mal's brief description of the planet (lusher than most) was a little lacking. The planet was actually almost entirely forest. Wash had trouble finding a place to land, but as soon as he did, the River and Kaylee nearly ran off of the ship.

"Now ya'll stick close to someone, you hear?" Mal called after them. Lowering his voice he asked Simon, "You got everything you're gonna need there doctor? Cause that pack looks mighty small."

"I do have to carry it an undetermined, but assuredly long ways," Simon said. "It will be sufficient."

"Don't matter if they die of old age before we get there," Jayne muttered, shoving past them. "We gonna get going or what?"

* * *

It took a good hour's hike to reach the town, which was more like a small village carved out of the woods, but no one seemed to mind too much, seeings that the alternative was being stuck back on the ship.

Mal told everyone to hold back while he and Zoe cautiously approached the village. A strong looking young man came forward to greet them. "Are you here to help?" he asked anxiously. "Thank the lord!"

"Yes, we're here to help," Mal said. "What's the problem?"

"Well, it's hard to explain. Do you have a doctor?"

Mal nodded and sent Zoe to get the rest of the group. When they appeared, he waved Simon forward. "This is Doctor Taylor, Mr. . .?"

"Jatin," the man responded. "My name is Jatin." He looked to Simon, A.K.A. Dr. Taylor. "Something happened to my people Dr. Taylor. I can show you if you'll follow me." He led Simon to a house and opened the wooden slate shutters on the window. "Look inside, but be careful."

Simon peered inside, scanning the entire room. "I don't see anything," he said slowly shaking his head."

Jatin was about to respond when a hand reached through the one of the slits and wrapped around Simons wrist. The doctor cried out in shock and pulled away quickly. The hand released him, but left deep claw marks on his wrist.

Jatin stared at him in an odd mixture of sadness and horror.

"What was that?!" Mal demanded, speaking up for Simon, who was oddly silent and unmoving.

"One of my people, infected by an illness. I don't know what it is, but I'm afraid your friend is now infected. We'll have to confine him soon."

Everyone looked down at Simon, who was frantically rummaging through his pack. "I know what this is," he explained quickly. " I know this, I know how to fix this, where IS IT?!"

"I knew you'd forget something," Mal muttered. "What do you need? We can go get it."

"Not him," Jatin said quickly. "He has to stay here."

Simon frowned, the scribbled something onto a piece of paper. "Bring this to me. It's in the infirmary. It's there on the . . in the the . . .with the. . . hnnn. . ." Simon passed out.

"That's helpful," Jayne said, unhelpfully. "It's on the, in the, with the. Wake up and finish your sentence!"

"Oh, he'll wake up soon," Jatin assured the mercenary. "He won't be doing much speaking though. Or much of anything besides trying to tear us up for that matter. I'll lock him in a spare house, just hurry."

"I'll stay here." Zoe volunteered. "In case there's any trouble."

"Maybe you'd better stay too," Mal said to the other girls.

Kaylee looked at Jatin and the locked houses nervously. "I think I'd rather not Cap'n." River agreed, and so they were off. They traveled at an expedient rate until they hit a proverbial bump in the road.

"It forks," Kaylee said morosely. "And there's no footprints. What do we do?"

"Split up and whoever has the right path hurries back with the medicine," said Mal decisively. He copied the medicine name onto the bottom half of the paper, ripped it off and handed it to Jayne.

"I'm going with Mal," River announced.

"Okay," Kaylee agreed. Though she'd never admit it, she felt safer with Jayne any day.

And so they set off again, Mal and River to the right and Jayne and Kaylee to the left.

* * *

River was humming as the walked, a pretty but indefinite tune that shifted as her thoughts did. Out of the blue she stopped and asked Mal, "What if we're wrong?"

Mal considered this, then answered, "Then we keep walking until we're sure we're wrong and then turn around."

River nodded and resumed walking. "I hope we're wrong," she said. "For Kaylee."

And even though he had no idea why, Mal secretly agreed.

* * *

"You know, it's mighty pretty here, surrounded in all this green," Kaylee said cheerfully. Jayne grunted in a way that couldn't really be interpreted positively or negatively. Kaylee continued on her monologue anyway. "We don't really get to see wildlife very much. Usually all the planets are hot and sparse and deserty. It's a nice change. Too bad we-"

"Shh!" Jayne snapped, cutting the mechanic off mid-sentence. He had stopped walking and drawn a gun. "I think I heard some wildlife you won't be appreciating so much."

Kaylee froze, scared stiff. "Like what?"

"Dunno." He stared into the trees to their left. "Wait a gorram second, those figures look human!"

"Don't sound human." Kaylee whispered.

Jayne looked at her, and something clicked. "Run."

Her eyes widened. "Run where?"

"I dunno. Away."

"Are you running too?"

"Yeah," Jayne lied. "I'll be right behind you. Go!"

And Kaylee dashed off into the foliage in the opposite direction of the figures. It wasn't until she heard gunshots that she realized that Jayne wasn't behind her. "Jayne!" she cried out, turning back the way she had come. She was torn momentarily. He'd told her to run, but he could be hurt. And besides, she wasn't safe without him. Resolutely, she turned back and went to find him.

* * *

"Kaylee!" River screamed. A small flock of birds took off in fright and Mal turned sharply to the girl.

"What is it Albatross? Is Kaylee hurt?"

River shook her head slowly. "Not hurt. Scared. Petrified. Her bullet-man is wounded. Can move, but barely. They might come back. And he's heavy. Doesn't know where to run. Where to hide." The girl knelt to the ground, holding her head. "Lost. Unfamiliar. He's bleeding so much. Gives her his gun. Almost drops it. Doesn't know what to do. Wishes he would tell her. Wishes he could tell her. So much fear. So much. . .pain." River collapsed to the ground, out cold, leaving a very confused Mal to sort out the mess.

As far as he could tell, Kaylee and Jayne were attacked and Jayne fought them off, but got hurt. And now Kaylee has to protect both of them. . .? But attacked by what? Or who? And why did River pass out?

Mal scowled and hefted River up, slinging her over his shoulder. Hopefully he was on the right track, and if he was, he must be close to the ship. Hopefully.

* * *

To be concluded in the next chapter. . . which will likely be up in the next day or so. My first Firefly fic. ) Yes, I hurt Simon. And Jayne. It doesn't mean I don't love them.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Fresh Air, With a Side of Trouble

Chapter: 2 of 2

Author: Yuri-san

Rating: T, I guess. Because of the violence. . . ?

Summary: After being in the air for too long, Serenity's crew is more than willing to answer a distress call if it means getting to leave the ship for a while. Involves a mysterious illness, an injured doctor, and a quest for meds. Pre BDM.

Pairing(s): Jaylee if you squint.

Notes: Inara is away and Sheppard Book is. . . also away. Convenient, I know.

* * *

Kaylee's tears burned her eyes and she tried to rub them away, but they just kept coming. She had tucked the gun Jayne handed her into the waist band of her jeans, after putting it on what she hoped was safety. She was dragging the large man as best she could, but he was _heavy_ and she didn't even know where to go.

As she stopped for a moment to catch her breath, she took a look around at her surroundings, and then back down at Jayne. It looked to her like he'd been stabbed, not bitten or clawed, thankfully, and she hoped with every fiber of her being that he wouldn't wake up as some kind of monster. He'd be able to overpower him easily, and even if she were capable of shooting a gun, she was almost positive that she could never shoot Jayne. Sure, he was mean to the others sometimes, and he liked to act rough and tough, but he was always nice to her and he kept her safe as best he could.

She went through two more cycles of dragging, catching her breath and checking her surroundings before discovering a cave, one that she hoped was unoccupied. She sent a quick prayer to whoever would listen and dragged Jayne to the cave.

* * *

Ironically, Zoe, the one left behind to confront trouble should any arise, was the only one that trouble seemed to be avoiding. Simon had made a bit of a ruckus when he woke up crazed and caged, but he wasn't a particularly strong man, and soon ran out of energy trying (unsuccessfully) to escape.

Zoe settled down on the ground cross-legged, far from any of the houses and in a spot where she could keep an eye on most of them. There weren't that many, after all.

Jatin sat down next to her and began answering questions that she hadn't even asked, nor had she planned on ever asking.

"It started a few days ago," he began. "One of our hunters came back wounded. The others that had been with him said that they were attacked by a crazy man. The wound wasn't too bad, but he was unconscious. We had our doctor patch him up, but he woke up in the middle and attack the doc, and a few others. It took a while before we realized that he infection, or whatever it is, is spread through open wounds. Not too many were affected at that time, but one of our strongest broke out and attacked in the night. I shot him and locked up the others. I was the only one left. That was almost two days ago."

He paused to listen while someone thumped on the walls that held them captive, then continued when it quieted. "We don't have much technology, but we've got enough that I've been sending out a signal since the day before yesterday. I thought the battery on the equipment was going to run out before anyone came to help. . ."

"But we came," Zoe said. "End of story."

And that was that.

* * *

River regained consciousness before Mal got to Serenity. She patted him several times on the back and he set her down on her own two feet. She was very light, so it would have been only the very slightest of inconveniences to have carry her the rest of the way to the ship, but he was mighty glad she was awake, because now he couldn't be accused of trying to kill the doc's sister.

"Are you okay?" he asked her warily.

"They're fine," she told him, answering a different, but not unrelated question.

"That's not what I asked Albatross. Are _you_ fine?" he pressed.

"I was never not fine," she said in a voice the told him that she thought he was being silly.

He opened his mouth to protest that passing out is very definitely a big indicator of "not fine", realize that it was a futile effort, and close his mouth without speaking.

River smiled, knowing that she had one, and skipped the rest of the way to the ship

* * *

When Jayne came to, the first thing he saw was Kaylee shakily pointing his gun in the direction that he could not see. He shifted at see her aiming at. . .

Nothing.

"Gorrammit girl," Jayne wheezed, causing Kaylee to start, almost drop the gun, and look to him. "I thought was something attacking us, the way you're pointing that gun."

"Not being attacked," Kaylee told him. "Just wanted to protect you, cause you're always protecting me."

"Just do what I'm paid to," Jayne insisted weakly.

"You're not paid to go with me when I go shopping. Zoe could do that. But you go, and scare away the bad people and carry stuff and intimidate people into giving good prices."

Jayne had nothing to say to that. Except, "Did I get stabbed?"

"Seems like it," Kaylee said. "You bled a lot, but you're alive, so it mustn't be too bad."

Jayne nodded. Not dying was good. "You're holding that wrong," he said to Kaylee suddenly, referring to the gun. He scooted into a sitting position and adjusted her arms. "See, this way if you shoot, the gun is less likely to move all over the place. Not that you're gonna shoot anything."

"Okay." And then she could hear River, not with her ears, but in her mind.

_"Kaylee?"_ River said. _"Kaylee."_ She could hear the smile in the girl's voice. _"We found Serenity and the medicine and we know you're lost and I can find you, but we're going to fix Simon and the others first."_

Kaylee smiled and relayed the message to Jayne. She didn't know how River did it, and she didn't really want to know, she was just really happy that it happened.

* * *

There was a rustle in the bushes and Zoe jumped up and spun around, only to find herself face-to-face Mal.

"Got the meds?" she asked.

"Got'em."

"Where are the others?"

"Hopefully not getting themselves killed like they were before." Oddly, Zoe accepted this as a perfectly normal answer. "Now, we've got some townsfolk and a doctor to fix up, don't we?"

"Sir, we don't know how much of this to use," Zoe pointed out.

"Bottle says what a dosage is, may as well try it on someone, and if it works, then we fix the rest."

"And if it don't?"

"Then we try again," Mal answered, rummaging through Simon's pack and finding and empty syringe. He filled it properly, set it down, stood up and went to the nearest house. "Jayne," he said. "Get something fairly heavy and hit whatever or whoever comes out this door when I open it, dong ma?"

"Jayne's not here sir," Zoe said, trying to bite back a laugh.

Mal was confused for a moment. What a silly thing to forget. "Okay, you get to do it then Zoe."

"Yes sir."

He opened, she struck and a man fell to the ground. Mal shot him up with the medicine and they waited. And waited. Until finally the man woke up. Everyone tensed, then sighed in relief. It seemed that they not only had the correct dosage, but the medicine worked fairly quickly.

One down, who knows how many more to go. . .

* * *

Jayne's bleeding finally seemed to have completely stopped.

"Can you stand?" Kaylee asked.

"Rather not have to try," Jayne responded. "Why?"

"Well you're awful heavy and if you can't walk, then someone will have to carry you," the other explained.

"Serves 'em right for letting us be the ones that got attacked. They should've tried Cap'n and Crazy and seen how far they'd get."

Kaylee smiled. "Least River can protect herself." Then she frowned. "Unlike me."

"Pretty thing like you doesn't need to know about violent stuff like that," Jayne said firmly. "That's what I'm here for."

"But you won't always be there," Kaylee protested softly.

"And why not?" Jayne demanded, more than a little confused.

"I dunno . . ." Kaylee said. "Just cause."

"I'll be there. So don't you go worrying your little head about something like that, dong ma?"

"Yeah." Kaylee smiled brightly. "Thanks Jayne."

* * *

This was why Mal didn't like to let his crew out and about. Someone always came back holey. Or got kidnapped. Or stabbed. Or something crazy like that.

And he didn't even get paid for this particular outing. Sure, the people were all sorts of grateful, but they simply didn't have anything useful.

And on top of _that_, he'd had to help carry Jayne back.

Sometimes his crew was more trouble than they were worth.

"Captain! Dinnertime!" Kaylee called. "And it's real food! I got some wild stuff on the planet!"

And sometimes they were worth the trouble after all.

* * *

Awww. A nice ending. Did you notice the Jaylee? Just a bit? I tried not to be too. . . mushy, but I couldn't help making it sweet. I hope you enjoyed the story. If it's not too much trouble, leave a review and let me know what you thought!


End file.
